$25M Walmart Supercenter planned for Toa Baja

Walmart Puerto Rico is pushing forward with its expansion plans on the island, revealing plans to build a Supercenter in Toa Baja entailing a $25 million investment.

In an interview with local trade magazine “Empresarios,” Jaime Fernández Palacios, general manager for the Puerto Rico region, said groundbreaking on the project is planned for February 2012, with a target opening date of early 2013.

The 140,000 square-foot, future Supercenter will be located on a 12-acre plot in Toa Baja that will be visible from Highway 22 from San Juan to Arecibo, Fernández said.

Once open, the store will generate 400 direct jobs, Fernández said.

This project is one of several the recently appointed executive is overseeing in coming months.

As News is my Business reported, in May, the retailer broke ground on the new Supercenter it plans to build in the heart of Santurce, through a $50.2 million investment. The future location will generate a combined 550 jobs, broken down into 250 during the construction phase and 300 permanent jobs once the multi-level store opens in 2013 on Stop 18.

And last week, Walmart confirmed the $11 million expansion of its Humacao store, which upon completion in December, will have an additional 30,00 square-feet of grocery store space.